This weekend our friends the Van Hills came into town to visit. Here’s some photos from our day of fun in the city.

And in case you’ve missed ‘em, you can always find the latest photos here.

As usual, I have no pictures. I really need to learn how to include those. Another goal for this summer.

So here’s what I’m noticing about San Fran. For your convenience, I’ve split it up into pros and cons for those of you who are thinking of moving/visiting. Keep in mind that all of the below are the opinions of one surburbanite girl and not necessarily those of San Francisco locals.

Pros:

I’m with Josh again!

Everything I could ever need is within walking distance. Specifically: Walgreens is on my block, Starbucks is two blocks over. Easy.

I’m walking everywhere, and therefore feel much less guilt about the non-existent exercise routine I’ve been following.

It’s never rainy. Everytime I check the Five Day forecast, there’s five little suns.

Britex Fabrics. Love it, love it, love it.

H & M. See above.

There are HUGE Gaps, Macys, American Eagle, etc. Ones that cover an entire block. Why walk when you can shop the whole way downtown?

REALLY nice people work here. Really nice. All the service people are incredibly friendly. Example: I got a free scarf in Chinatown this morning for buying fabric. It was a fabric store. I was fulfilling the customer’s purpose. Yet, they deemed me worthy of a scarf. It even coordinated with my outfit.

Amazing food. And Chinatown and Little Italy fall under this umbrella.

Westfield Mall. They must have 5 specialty chocolate stores.

The tourists- some of them are from Europe. I love getting behind them on the sidewalk and listening to them speak. I can’t understand the words, but I like the entusiasm.

Cons:

You guessed it- there’s a huge, huge, HUGE homeless population here. When I say huge, I mean that during a five block walk there’s absolutely no surprise to see 10-15 people living on the street. Most of them just hold an empty cup- a few tell you a story. It makes me so sad because there must be a few who are legitimate, but I’m not clever enough to discern those from the ones who are seen walking into package stores.
(*See stories below.)

The smells. I’m sure it’s the same in any city, though. You’ll be walking along, one minute smelling some delicious Italian food, and then all the sudden, this horrid smell smacks you in the face and sucks the air right out of your lungs. Then you take small breaths until you find a clear spot again. Sometimes it takes half a block. Particularly uncomfortable when you’ve been walking for awhile and are a little winded anyway.

The people who ask for directions. I guess it’s a good thing that I am starting to blend into the San Francisco world where people can’t identify me as a non-local, but I never know where anything is. Not so helpful. I get lost in Marietta, don’t they know?

The spitting. Oh my goodness, the spitting. Groomed, young, old, homeless, it doesn’t matter- men in this city have a hard time swallowing. They especially like to spit just behind me. Any gentleman points they earned by letting me go ahead are lost after they make that disgusting sound and let loose.

Final Thoughts:

It’s been an interesting week adjusting to being in a new city. My days are spent sewing, walking to do errands or lunch, or just sitting in the square reading or people watching. It’s relaxing, and so strange to get used to after teaching full time. I’m not complaining about having free time- that was something I was craving as the school year wrapped up.
In truth, the hardest part has been knowing I won’t be hanging out with any of you for awhile. I miss our family and friends!

But I am with Josh, and he’s taking great care of me. There’s some cool pictures he’s been taking around the city. I can’t attach a link either, but if you go down to the previous post, there’s one there.

I hope you’re all having a great summer!

*Here’s two stories of some of my encounters.

“I have money, I just need some quarters to make a phone call.”- same man seen standing by same phone booth two nights in a row

Today a man was walking past me on a crosswalk with a lit cigarette in one hand and a brown package in the shape of a bottle in the other. ( I forgot to mention in the cons that cigarette smoke is often blown into your face.) Just before he reached me, he spit (spat?) about a foot in front of me. Some droplets of it hit my hand. It’s okay, it’s okay- I had Purell that I bought my first week here for just such an occasion.

Hi friends. If you’re interested in viewing photos from our summer out here in S.F., you’re going to want to visit this page for the latest updates.

I’ll be honest — right now the pickings are pretty slim. Hardly any photos of people you know. Most of it is from my people watching around the city and me playing with my camera.

Below is a sampling of what you can expect to find. The sea lion photos are for the niece and nephew fans of ours . . . taken in effort to alleviate any trauma that may have been done by showing them sad Aunt Lauren a few posts back. :)

So tonight I settle into our new summer home here in San Francisco. We’re delighted to be right in the heart of the city, near all the shopping locations and many sights. Lauren won’t be here until June, so please take care of her for me in the meantime. Things are going really well so far and I’m anxious to start my internship this coming Tuesday.

Here’s what I came home to the other day just before I had to start packing for the trip… so sad. So sweet. My wife.

We’ll do our best to keep this site updated with photos and stuff throughout the summer. :)